chaos and honey

Thu: Tel Aviv 25 up 22.6% in 2004
Yaron Friedman 30 Dec 04 18:58 - from Globes www.globes.co.il
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) indices rose today. The Tel Aviv 25 index rose 0.96% to 617.94 points, the Tel Aviv 100 rose 1.03% to 635.95 points, and the Tel-Tech rose 1.24% to 440.73 points. Turnover was NIS 1.83 billion.
The TASE ended 2004 today on an optimistic note, with the highest-ever one-day turnover. The previous record of NIS 1.58 billion was in May 2003. The expiry of Tel Aviv 25 options was the main reason for the huge turnover.
Investors signed off on a rather good year, and the final session of the year continued the trend. The Tel Aviv 25 index rose almost 1% to complete a 22.6% rise for the year, the Tel Aviv 100 index rose 19% for the year, and the Tel-Tech was up 17.5%.

a late entrant has been garnered for idiot of the year.
what do you know? an attorney no less.
please read the quote below and note the use of the word tsunami by the lawyer representing the 7 year old girl who alleges that the use of motrin has made her go blind and is suing johnson & johnson. while i feel for the girl and her plight, i hope we are NOT facing the usage of the word tsunami as a new fad because of the events of this weekend and its developing tragedy. the quote is taken from a cnn article.....

"This is the equivalent of a medical tsunami -- there was no warning put out whatsoever on this apparently benign, over-the-counter medicine," Sabrina Brierton Johnson's attorney Browne Green said.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/29/news/fortune500/jnj.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

here is another list that has been put together by US AID regarding south east asia, many of the names were listed earlier but it includes others which arent in the first batch just in case you are looking for other alternatives.......

http://www.usaid.gov/locations/asia_near_east/tsunami/ngolist.html

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/520432.html

the above is an interesting article from ha'aretz regarding relations with egypt........

below list are a group of organizations accepting charity for the tragedy in south east asia and elsewhere caused by the earthquake and tidal waves........
AmeriCares
Action Against Hunger
ADRA International
American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Inc.
American Red Cross
Association for India's Development
CARE
Catholic Relief Services
Christian Children's Fund
Church World Service
Direct Relief International
Doctors Without Borders
Food for the Hungry, Inc.
International Aid
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
International Medical Corps
International Rescue Committee
Lutheran World Relief
MAP International
Mercy Corps
Network for Good
Operation USA
Oxfam America
Plan USA
Project Concern International
Save the Children USA
UNICEF
U.N. World Food Programme
World Concern

http://www.policyreview.org/dec04/kaplan.html

the above is an excellent opinion piece that should be read.........

my wife and i disagree on certain things in life like all couples, for whatever reason she fails to see how manipulative the media is sometimes in my estimation. she grows concerned for my reactions towards the television.
an israeli 'news' show last week went to a run down tel aviv neighborhood to show the drug addicts living within a vacant building. they filmed the people who included illegal immigrants, ex-professionals, etc, in rather eye catching ways asking them about their problems and their ambitions (if any) for the future.
sure enough as they are filming the police showed up to arrest everyone and put the twenty or so addicts onto a bus and take them to a debriefing area where the addicts are interviewed/ interrogated/ counseled.........but amazingly enough after the hours sessions were finished, the police then put the addicts on various buses and dispersed them to various unsavory locales throughout the country, and the addicts one by one exited various modes of transport to be disengaged..........and stand there - where ever there is for an addict - isolated in the middle of podunk universe wondering what the heck to do next.
of course they were being filmed the whole time and made to look miserable which i am sure was a sincere feeling within the addicts.
my problem with this (besides almost losing my mind with anger) is just how manipulated the addicts on this show were by the 'news' show. it was a created event and left the addicts worse off because they had no relation to where they were let off to rot ......my wife on the other hand saw it as a way of showing the problems of the addicts and how they need to be resolved and couldnt understand why i thought this was cheap trick tv at its worse...........the news has become a reality show hooked and fused on making us feel something for the sake of entertainment......
my point just in case it isnt clear, is that our media and culture demand feel good events, something must be attained even if it is artificial..........something good must always be gotten.

it goes hand in hand with the way the war in iraq is being reported and distributed around the world.
the u.s. forces do the fighting but they are weighed down by the obstacles constructed by politically correct do-gooders who refuse to allow for the justification of blood and brutality as a tactic to kill enemy combatants.
of course, the same enemy combatant is justified to kill the u.s. troops in any manner possible, this because the insurgents are the underdog.........and underdogs are always a good story.

this from the most recent aipac update reports,

U.S. Officials Accuse Iran and Syria of Interfering in Iraq According to U.S. intelligence officials and members of the Iraqi interim government, both Syria and Iran are undermining American efforts to stabilize Iraq, The Washington Post reported. Intelligence reports say that Syria is sheltering members of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party who are directing attacks on U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians. Meanwhile, according to Iraqi officials, Iran is interfering in Iraq's electoral process, seeking to produce a government dedicated to the radical tenets of Islamic fundamentalism adhered to by Tehran. U.S. and Iraqi officials also say that Iran, like Syria, has organized and funded terrorist groups that target American soldiers and Iraqis.

that being said and having read other reports, i think it will take a lot more than this to give bush the determination to go after syria, iran, and their 'friends' the hizbullah. until i see further evidence (that the states would actually consider military action there) i believe we will see a discussion amongst unequals at various intervals in the coming year.
in a way, arafat's death has helped prevent military action for now, this because there is suddenly the 'feeling' that some issues can be talked out. and while arafat was the palestinian leader, psychologically the ability to speak with one another extends to all in this region. we will see how much time is on the clock for chit chat.

must be a slow news day or something, because cnn is reporting this as breaking news:

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe to resign, become chancellor of Louisiana State University, CNN has learned. Details soon.

my thought are these, i remember a time when breaking news only consisted of wars beginning or assasination attempts. only reason why this could be considered breaking news i think is because cnn KNOWS the guy - o'keefe - doesnt have a clue about college football.......

enough to really make me angry, but little i can do about it i am afraid........

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412120360dec12,1,2974333.story

an interesting 'hoax' played on the bbc regarding dow chemical and the bhopal tragedy.
it shows once again that the media can be fooled and lied to at other peoples whims because of over exuberance nowadays to break a story too quickly.

http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=958245&tw=wn_wire_story

http://nytimes.com/2004/12/04/international/europe/04bbc.html

i have seen a few articles quoting the 'yes men' as saying this is their strategy to make dow chemical come to terms with the events in india and that they feel they (the yes men) are expressing what dow should do........i know one thing for certain, dow chemical's stock got a jolt when the bbc news came out.....in all an interesting and ugly manipulation i think, couldnt have made the folks in india feel very good to have gotten their hopes up and then find out it was a hoax.

here is some background info on what happened in bhopal twenty years ago:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_Disaster

interesting op/ed piece from friedman in the ny times today on science foundation budget in the states and its implications, it should be read all the way through because it offers an interesting theory on oil towards the end...........which i would like to see what some of you think about it.......

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/opinion/05friedman.html?8hpib

my thoughts are that it would be hard to disagree that more money shoud always be spent on scientific R&D, and obviously any ability to make the major economies less reliant on oil producers particularly some of the less stable politically would be for the better.........that being said, i would like to know if about friedman's comments and the person he mentions which state that in large measure the fall of the soviet union and the move towards middle east peace came about in the late 80's and early 90's because of the fall in oil prices and the lack of economic ability which befell the major players then and now is correct......? while it may seem like a valid reason perhaps it is too simplistic.
was i too idealistic then to simply believe that the system of communism failed not only because it was an economic failure but because it was ethically & morally bankrupt as well?
too as noted, it mentions the oslo agreements, and while the palestinians have always gotten money from the saudi arabians, isnt it possible that it was time to make peace for many other reasons? didnt the first gulf war actually end before the oslo agreements were made? if anything the saudis had no inclination to help the palestinians not because of oil prices but because the palestinian leadership largely supported iraq during the first persian gulf war.
and the israelis are not an oil producer of any magnitude, we werent economically driven to make peace because of the low oil prices - were we?
point is that while it is an interesting theory it is in fact only one reason of many for the world working the way it does, looking at the world as if all things move because of oil is just as shortsighted as accepting marxist theory that all things work because of money and that nothing else matters.

http://www.conceptwizard.com/pipeline_of_hatred.html

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/041202/w120250.html

can someone please try to explain in a rational manner why the iranians are holding a parade for would be suicide bombers for the purpose of killing americans and israelis?
are they jealous of the thanksgiving parade in new york? maybe they should build a big float of a suicide bomber and hoist it a hundred feet into the air so the people can wave and smile at it too.
please note that this was not a protest led by palestinians. it was a protest in IRAN. what pray tell do the iranians have to do with the palestinian issue? obviously it is a shining example of a govt (non arab btw) which offers the palestinian situation as a opiate to forget the ills of their own govt which have led them to fanatisism. last time i checked israel had nothing to do with iran's form of govt, its economy, nor its results regarding unemployment, corruption, and probably not even its drug trade.........
another manifestation of delirium becoming the norm.
can you imagine just how much propaganda it took to convince these people that becoming a suicide bomber is a worthy cause? what would happen if iran spent its time trying to build a modern society, instead of one in which its supreme mullahs cared more about making all of us submissive to their particular belief in god?

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/508549.html

may i push up the date on my prediction from earlier this year?
13:13 GMT May 20, 2004
i am willing to venture the following: in fifteen years time marwan barghouti will be the head of the palestinian govt - elected leader - serving as its president and it wont be from a jail cell.

so all in all, not a great day for sharon, his budget failed miserably in the knesset when shinui actually kept their word and didnt vote yes because of the greenmail involved for the religious parties.
and now he has arafat's heir apparent about to become a cause celeb. i suspect my next prediction due to come true is that the sharon govt will be calling elections sometime for the summer and that sharon will lose a power play to bibi.
all in good time my friends, all in good time.........

some of you may recall my post from a few months ago when i said one of the major problems in this area of the world is the way things are negotiated. one can make an agreement and then just before something is going to be signed look up and say," you know, i was wondering about....." and thus re-open the deal often making it fall apart.
may i offer the following as a prime sample,

18:02 Marwan Barghouti`s brother confirms that the jailed Tanzim leader registered his candidacy to run for PA chairman. (Haaretz)

apparently barghouti has changed his mind and is going to register for the upcoming pa vote. at this time barghouti is sitting in prison for having given a direct order in the killing of an eastern othodox priest during the height of the intifada and other 'terrorist' crimes. barghouti and his followers want nothing less than himself morphing into the 'new' mandela and he may soon start to get the attention of the world to achieve this. he is clearly the most powerful of the new leadership within the palestinian society and perhaps the most respected.
no matter if he gets something from the pa and decides to take a back seat during this upcoming election or actually decides to run from a jail cell, he will be one of the most formidable and definitely the most charismatic personality the israelis will have to deal with.

when did the word no become a curse? when did the word no become politically incorrect? why is it that we as a society and culture (the west) find it so hard to tell someone, something, no?
at some point there has to be a rationale given, one cannot simply stand there like a parent does, who looks at their children and answers, "because i am the parent". it would be good to offer an explantion for saying no to someone. when did it become unacceptable to not only not say no, but unkind to offer explanations on why one should not do something? when did an honest no become impolite?
no, you will not get your hair dyed purple. no, you will not drop out of school. no, you will not do heroin.
we have govts that cannot say no, they make budgets and continuously negate their own figures by giving in to groups who are always standing in line with their hands out and when they dont get their share they bolt the govt and speak about the evil coalition that they were members of only two minutes ago.
we have unions that cant bear to hear the word no. a corporation says it must lay off worker because they cannot be afforded yet somehow the workers refuse to go, a strike is organized, and the economy suffers and then the corps are often asked to pay the workers for the time in which they striked.
we have int'l institutions which refuse to see the truth, no - we are not corrupt, no - we will not agree to be investigated, no - we will not accept less money for our expenditures.
does the truth hurt? yes,but that isnt even the beginning. when did we forget to say no to ourselves? when did we forget that perhaps eating that extra serving, stopping for a snack, wasnt within our realm of control? when did we decide that we didnt have to have control over our own diets, we did we stop saying no to needless consumption.
just why did those people in the lines at the stores need to run into the places the day after thanksgiving? why is it so important that we buy things for people that they probably dont need and in a lot of circumstances dont want and cant really use? when did it become a command that we have to upgrade every year our electronic gadgets and our latest fashions?
when did it become unacceptable to say no i will not participate, no i dont agree.
we are killing ourselves with politeness, we are refusing to say the most basic of things.
why is it so hard to say, "no, you are not correct." "no, they shouldn't be allowed to get away with that." "no, they dont need a slap on the wrist." "no, you will not stop going to piano lessons." "no, you will stop watching tv."
"no, your govt will not be allowed to be corrupt and no we will not continue to give you money until you can make a proper accounting."